Bethlehem Says Sludge Didn't Pollute Runoff

January 02, 1986|The Morning Call

Bethlehem officials agree that bacterial contamination was found in water samples taken from runoff from the city landfill, but they dispute the belief that the fecal coliform results from direct sewage sludge runoff.

The state Department of Environmental Resources sent a notice of violation over the runoff onto Riverside Road in Lower Saucon Township, off the north slope of the landfill, on Dec. 11.

Township Planning Commission member Gail Nolf took water samples from flooded Riverside Road on Nov. 29 and submitted them to DER, which investigated the situation. The city does not dispute the high levels of bacteria found in the samples, said city engineer Gary Falasca.

Falasca said the road flooding was caused by clogged drainage channels leading to the Lehigh River. Those problems have since been corrected by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and by Conrail, he said.

"It's leachate," Falasca said of the contamination, referring to water that has percolated through decaying garbage, picking up bacteria. "We're not disputing that. But we are not mismanaging our sludge to the point where it's running off thelandfill."

Nolf had said that, by the appearance and foul odor of a dark substance in the water, she believed it was raw sludge. Falasca claims it was not sludge, but roadway materials or something else.

City Chemist Jeff Andrews said the levels of heavy metals in the test samples are "typical of leachate, but not sludge." Andrews added that levels of bacteria above standards did not show up in ground-water monitoring wells in the area.

Public Works Director Wendell Sherman said the landfill expansion program, planned by the city for years but delayed over zoning disputes with the township, will address the runoff problem on the north slope.